(Ramakrishna Paramhansa; real name Ga-dadhar Chatterjee). Born Feb. 18, 1836, in Kamarpukur, West Bengal; died Aug. 16, 1886, in Calcutta. Indian mystic philosopher and religious reformer; representative of neo-Hinduism.

Ramakrishna advanced the doctrine of “universal religion,” believing that such forms of religious worship as Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity are only different manifestations of a universal striving toward a single divine principle. The philosophic foundations of this universal religion were taken chiefly from the ancient Indian idealist school of Vedanta, whose different trends Ramakrishna attempted to coordinate by presenting them as levels of Yoga spiritual experience.

According to Ramakrishna, bhakti (boundless love and devotion to god) is achieved not by ascetic renunciation of the world but by each person’s fulfillment of his earthly obligations. While asserting the necessity of social activity, Ramakrishna understood such activity in a rather narrow sense, chiefly from the viewpoint of a universal spiritual perfecting. He believed that an ideal of self-perfection was needed for deliverance from the calamities of the “iron age” (kali yuga), an era characterized by the omnipotence of money and domination by foreign oppressors.

Ramakrishna’s teachings became widely known abroad after his most outstanding student, Vivekananda, spoke at the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago (1893). In order to progagate Ramakrishna’s ideas, in 1897 his students founded a religious reform society, the Ramakrishna Mission. Located in Belur, near Calcutta, and with branches in Europe and North America, the mission continues its activity to the present time.

Nehru, J. Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, 3rd ed. Calcutta, 1960.